In October 2008, the first Global Handwashing Day was celebrated internationally. It was promoted as the highlight of a global effort to spread the practice of washing hands with soap, reducing the incidence of diarrhoeal disease and saving hundreds of thousands of lives. However, the objectives and strategies of the public-private partnership (PPP) behind this initiative, which includes the three biggest global producers of soap, have not received sufficient scrutiny. This article offers a critical reassessment of the Global Handwashing Day, its origins and its implications, and challenges the campaign's significance for its alleged beneficiaries and benefactors.
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